The Greater Skater, Volume 1, Issue 1 August 2013

The “Greater Skater” Reboot
With everything “old” considered “new” or “retro” we figured that this would be the perfect time for a reboot of the ICP Greater Skater Newsletter! Unlike hard copies of the past which were expensive and difficult to send internationally, this online electronic format that is linked directly with our website and database of instructors, will allow for more communication between the ICP and Certified Instructors world-wide. We are pleased that more timely information about ICP programming and inline skating events around the world will only be a click a way.

Our goal with this newsletter is to keep skating related information flowing and to highlight instructors and skate schools that are doing great things around the world. We know that many of you tirelessly support safe and effective inline skating instruction and the world needs to know what you are doing to develop more skaters and skating opportunities in your cities, coutries and regions

Subsequent newsletters will be sent frequently for the remainder of 2013 and the Greater Skater will be in need of additional content. If there is a note worthy event in your city , a skating event that you would like to promote, or a success story you would like to share, send us the information and we will try and include it in a future issue.

Certification Renewal & Continuing Education
The Inline Certification Program is now in it’s 22nd year of existence! We are proud of each of the 4000+ Certified Instructors throughout the world who have positively influenced the growth of the sport.

By meeting the challenge of taking the certification course this year or 20 years ago, you have been an influential asset to the industry helping it to remain a viable, exciting, and health enhancing option for sport and recreation for thousands of people world-wide.

The ICP’s first step has been to certify instructors Level 1 & Level 2 in as many countries as there has been interest and we will continue to do so to the best of our abilities. In addition, we listened to your requests and the needs of the inline industry by creating specialty certifications for individuals who wished to go beyond what is covered in Level 1 & 2. Programs such as recreational racing, Fitness Inline Training (FIT) and more recently the Slalom program were a way to provide additional skating educational tools for you to grow further as an educator and enhance your instructor profile.

However, today we believe our focus must also encompass the further development of you, the Certified Instructor, beyond skating and teaching basics. One of the ways we are doing this is through having instructors renew their certification.  The renewal process will serve as an update to get all instructors on the same page regarding changes in the program and inline industry. The renewal process will serve as a “leveling” of instructors world-wide. Once all Certified Instructors are level on the updated information, the next piece will be Continuing Education or Continuing Education Credits (CECs).

CECs opportunities will provide instructors with program and industry updates as well as enhance their knowledge of sport education. Modules pertaining to sports law, nutrition, exercise physiology, etc. will be available in an eLearnng format. In addition CECs will be available through attending additional levels of certification, inline and fitness related events, workshops, etc.

In the early years of the program, due to distance, expense, and lack of connectivity between our office and instructors around the world, the continuing education process had been a lot more difficult. However, with the expansion of the ICP internationally, improved technology, and the connectivity of the internet, that has all changed.

Similar professional programs in the ice skating, skiing and fitness industry also require CECs. CECs ensure that the instructor skills stay sharp and that they are using the most up to date skill building methods available in that particular industry.
They also serve as a way to support the the sponsor program, in this case the ICP, so that it can continue to support the further development of instructors and positively influence the growth of inline skating world-wide.

Over the next few months you will be receiving information regarding the renewal process. Depending on your location in the world there may be opportunities for local renewal seminars where you will be able to renew your certification. Upon completion of the seminar, you will receive a new certificate validating your current certification for another two years. For those who are unable to make it to a renewal seminar there will be additional eLearning options which are currently being developed and tested. I

Instructors certified prior to December 2011 who wish to maintain their Certified Instructor status with the ICP will need to participate in the renewal  process.

We are very excited to have the opportunity to reconnect with many of you and to share new program, industry, and fitness related information with all of you that will support your continued growth as an instructor and build an even larger world-wide instructor community.

Jon Wong ICP Level 3, Apprentice Examiner-Singapore

I picked up inline skating back in 2006 when I visited East Coast Park. I would often gaze in envy at the people at the skating rink, especially the better skaters while they performed their array of tricks. My buddy was skating too, but I didn’t know how to do what he was doing and would often follow him on my scooter. Eventually I managed to persuade him to let me try on his skates, and that was how I got started.

I never looked back since then and have been skating regularly ever since. In 2007, I decided to make this sport my career after leaving the military and joined Skateline Pte Ltd as a full-time instructor. But I didn’t get to teach right away as I wasn’t certified professionally. I had to undergo training on the teaching model of the ICP, which Skateline, enforces and get attached to senior instructors to learn from them.

When I am skating just for myself cones will most likely be close by! Freestyle slalom is my favourite skating discipline because I enjoy the fluidity of the moves, and it takes delicate control and precision to perform many of them.

What I like best as an instructor is to impart my skills and knowledge to my students, and watch them grow from a beginner into a competent skater and enjoying the sport on their own.

My favourite student has got to be ICP Examiner Mr. Mike Tan. Mike started off taking lessons through Skateline a few years back and I had the pleasure of being his teacher. He was highly motivated to learn and was serious in picking up the skills and practicing them to perfection, which made teaching him a joy. Since our first encounter years ago I watch Mike evolve from being a student, to certified instructor and even becoming an examiner! Watching him grow and pursue excellence in this sport brings me much joy and satisfaction as well as an inspiration!

In my journey towards becoming an ICP Examiner, I am looking forward to growing as a skating instructor and learning more about teaching the more in depth aspects of the sport. I also hope to develop and promote inline skating to more people and train more instructors who will use the proven ICP model ensuring the sport remains safe and attainable to all.

To read about Jon’s first experience as an ICP Apprentice Examiner in Jakarta, Indonesia click HERE

Featured Internationally Recognized Skate School Skatefresh-London, UK
Skatefresh has been rolling since 1999 when founder Asha Kirkby’s passion for skating and teaching led her to start what is now London’s longest running skate school. Since then she has passed on her expertise of teaching to a vast number of other instructors including those working for Skatefresh today. Skatefresh instructors are all Inline Certification Program (ICP) qualified and in addition have fine tuned their training within Skatefresh’s own apprentice program.
Skatefresh’s unique foundation in solid technique comes from Asha’s background as an artistic figure skater in her teens. This expertise is now the benchmark of quality and has put people (aged 4-83) safely on wheels in Hyde Park.

Through the ICP, Asha spends a lot of time training and certifying new and existing instructors both in the UK and abroad, enabling skate communities to grow and develop. Almost every skate instructor or skate school in London was certified by Asha or trained within Skatefresh. She was the first qualified ICP Level 3 instructor in the UK and in 2009 appeared in the BBC series Skate Nation as a judge and coach. She featured in numerous articles about the fitness aspect of skates and promoting inline skates as a mode of transport, making Skatefresh a household name for anyone with a set of skates in the UK.

After 13 years of teaching skating full time, Asha, founder of Skatefresh, has poured her years of experience into video format and made her lessons available on your iphone or Android phone. Each App contains a series of high quality, professionally shot video lessons, expert demos with step by step instructions, graphics and detailed notes and practice summaries so that your practice time is effective and productive.

The iphone apps are available on the App Store, search ‘Skatefresh’ and all 3 of them come up (beginners, Intermediate and Advanced). Or this link on iTunes;
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/asha-kirkby/id594166017

The Android apps are available here on Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Asha+Kirkby

The Android apps are the same as the Apple apps but the Intermediate and Advanced apps were too big so had to be split in half into Intermediate 1, Intemediate 2, Advanced 1 and Advanced 2. Each app is a series of detailed video lessons with step by step instructions and training notes to help you practice.

Click HERE for a Trailer video for the Skatefresh apps

Congratulations Asha and Skatefresh!

Become An ICP Internationally Recognized Skate School

An ICP International Recognized Skate School is one that is recognized to have consistently maintained ICP standards of safe and effective skating instruction, making it an example for other skate schools world-wide.

Basic International Skate School Recognition Criteria:

-All instructors must be ICP Certified.
-All lessons must adhere to ICP safety standards for conducting lessons.
-Skate School is subject to audit on skate school program and standards.

Interest? Please email [email protected] for more information. Click HERE to see a list of and read about our internationally recognized schools.

Remaining 2013 Program Dates

Singapore Level 1 23-25 August
Mumbai, India Level 1 6-8 September
London, UK Level 2 27-29 September
Seoul, South Korea Level 1 8, 14-15 September
London, UK Level 1 11-13 October
Seoul, South Korea Level 2 20, 26-27 October
Singapore Level 1 22-24 November
Singapore Level 2 December
Singapore Level 3 January 2014 TBA
Madrid, Spain Level 3 May 2014 TBA

Join on one of the of the BIGGEST and Best Skating Events!

The eleventh annual Big Apple Roll Weekend (BAR) is an exciting weekend of group skates, adventures exploring and experiencing New York City on skates. Party with old friends, make new ones, feel the rush of skating the New York City streets. Enjoy the city’s beautiful scenery, smooth pavement, rolling hills and fast straight-aways.

A weekend to explore NY, party with friends, and feel the rush of NYC street skating.

City skating, island hopping, beaches, parks, night life and of course our skates through Times Square.

The BAR 2013 is a FREE event! There will be no registration fee. However, anyone participating in the event must sign the Liability Waiver or you may not skate with us. Waivers will be available for signing before and at Skate Group-ups at event hotel.

BAR 2013 IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS.

BAR 2013 is for intermediate to expert skaters capable of easily handling street skating in groups, during the day and/or night, stopping and turning on all terrain, including hills, following all traffic laws. Bikers are welcomed as long as they keep in mind that skaters kick-out. Therefore, bikers must give skaters adequate space at all times by riding in the back, front or side of the skaters.

Contact [email protected] if you have any questions.

Spain is Caliente for ICP in 2013!

In the months of May and June the ICP had the pleasure of meeting and working with over 50 instructor candidates!

Click HERE for program related articles and HERE f to sign up for newly added September 2013 Level 1 & 2 Programs in Barcelona and Madrid!

Teaching Tips
Guidelines for Exercising Children Safely in the Heat

Safety Tip-During outdoor session in the heat, schedule time within your lesson for water breaks. Encourage students to bring water bottles or make small group trips to the water fountain or provide jugs of water and cups to ensure that the students remain well hydrated. summer time many parts of the world and when skating or exercising in the heat it is important to keep a few things in mind. Click HERE for more tips and information to keep your students safe while skating in the heat.